Eternal India Encyclopedia

RELIGIONS

Eternal India encyclopedia

called the Sri Narayana Dharma Paripalana Sangh - SNDP for short - for the educational, moral and spiritual welfare of the community. The Guru advised the members of the community to eschew toddy tapping, take to modern education and enter industry, business and other fields to improve their economic condition. He established a number of temples in Kerala. He also founded a monastic organisation. Tagore and Gandhi met him at his headquarters at Siragiri in Kerala and were impressed by his spiritual eminence. Narayana Guru visited various parts of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka carrying the message of the oneness of God. The SNDP today runs a number of schools, colleges, hospitals etc. Narayana Guru was a great poet. His works reveal a deep spiritual insight and provide an authentic proof of his self -realisa- tion. In January 1928 he developed urine obstruction. Despite medical treatment at Madras, Palghat and other places he passed away on September 20, 1928 at Varkala. SHIRDI SAI BABA (1918) Practically nothing is known of the early years of Sai Baba who came to be known as the Saint of Shirdi. His original name is not known. "Sai" is a Persian word for "Saint" and "Baba" means "father". He came of a middle class Brahmin family in Hyderabad state. He left home at a young age probably after the death of his parents to follow for God {Allah). He used Islamic sacred phrases but only seldom said the Islamic daily prayers ( natnaaz ). He referred frequently to his Hindu guru and to Hindu scriptures and gods. He had both Muslim and Hindu followers with the latter preponderating. He was worshipped by his Hindu followers in Hindu fashion. By and large devotees were drawn to him and Shirdi became a place of pilgrimage. He gave no formal initiation nor had he any set teaching. He worked miraculous cures ("I give people what I want in the hope that they will begin to want what I want to give them") often giving his devotees sacred ash (Udi) from the fire which he always maintained in the mosque to be given to sick persons who could not make the journey to Shirdi. Before the end came he sent word to another Muslim Saint:" The light that Allah lit he is taking away." (see Sec. R-15 - Sathya Sai Baba) SRI AUROBINDO (1872 - 1950) Born on 15 August 1872 in Calcutta, of Dr. K.D. Ghosh and Swarnalata Devi, Sri Aurobindo was sent to Loretto Convent School at Darjeeling and later, at the age of 7, led to England where he was to spend the next fourteen years. He proved himself a brilliant scholar at St. Paul’s in London and at King’s College at Cambridge. In accordance with his father’s wish, he appeared for the Indian Civil Service examination but absented himself at the riding test and got himself disqualified for the service, as he had no inclination for it. The Gaekwad of Baroda who was in a Muslim fakir after whose death he got at- tached to a Hindu guru whom he called Venkusa. He stayed with him for 12 years and then came to Shirdi, a village near Kopargaon in the Nasik District of Mahar- ashtra. He was in many ways an unconventional saint. He lived in the Shirdi mosque and used the Islamic name

I have come to America, to earn money myself, and then return to my country and devote the rest of my days in the realisation of this one aim in my fife. As our country is poor in social virtues, so this country is lacking in spirituality. I give them spirituality and they give me money," On the eve of his departure for America he took the name of Swami Vivekananda. The Parliament of Religions met on September 11, 1893 in the Hall of Columbus at the Arts Institute in Chicago and was in session for 17 days. When Vivekananda's turn to speak came, he stood up and started with , “Sisters and Brothers of America!" The effect was electrical. The whole audience stood up to a man, cheering and waving wildly for minutes. Annie Besant wrote long after "The large multitude hung upon his words enraptured. Not a cadence missed. 'That man a heathen!” said one, as he came out of the great hall, and we send missionaries to his people ! It would be more fitting that they should send missionaries to us!" After his triumphant return from the West, Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Mission on the 1st May 1897. His greatest triumph lay in reorientating the outlook of his brother disciples from ideas of per- sonal salvation to a sympathetic comprehension of the needs of his fellowmen. A Ramkrishna Centre was started in Madras. Another result of Swami Vivekananda's ideology was the starting of famine relief centres in Murshidabad district. The Ramakrishna Mission is unique because it play s a spiritual role as well as a social role. It has set up a large number of schools, orphanages and dispensaries. Till his death on July 4, 1902, Swami Vivekananda preached the message of fearlessness and action. According to Romain Rolland, "He was energy personified and action was his message to men". SRI NARAYANA GURU (1856-1928) Christened Narayanan and called Nanu endearingly, Narayana Guru was bom in 1856 in a depressed Ezhava caste family in Cham- pazhanti, a village near Trivandrum. He had his Sanskrit primary lessons at home and at the age of 21 became a student of Raman Pillai at Karunagapally, some miles away from home, where he studied Sanskrit literature, drama and other allied branches of knowledge. Returning home he opened a school to teach Sanskrit. That earned him the title Asan - master. He became more and more interested in Hindu . religious lore and more reserved and withdrawn. His relatives decided that he should be married and he was accordingly married to a grandniece of his father called Kali. But he was not destined for family life. He walked away from home in search of the meaning of life. He met a saint called Chattambi Swami from whom he received spiritual guidance. He later met Ayyavu of Taikad who initiated him into yoga. He then repaired to a hill some miles to the east of Nagercoil called Marutvamalai. He entered a cave here. After prolonged tapas he emerged an enlightened soul. Sri Narayanan installed a Sivalinga at Aruvippuram on the river Neyyar, near Trivandrum. The local people acclaimed him as a man of God. This irritated the priestly class who questioned his right to instal an image. Sri Narayanan replied that the Siva he had installed was an Ezhava Siva. He set to work to organise the backward Ezhava community (many of whose members were toddy tappers by profession) and raise it in all possible ways. His associates in this task were Dr Palpu and Kumaran who became a well - known poet in Kerala. They started a movement